Abattoir Blues
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- Date published:
12:26 pm, January 30th, 2016 - 30 comments
Categories: uncategorized -
Tags: bribe, murray mccully, saudi arabia
One of the annoying aspects of David Shearer and Phil Goff’s self serving and self centered endorsement of the flawed TPPA agreement is that has knocked a genuine scandal off the front pages.
Instead of supplying ammunition to the Labour Party haters on the dry right and the infantile left, those two MP’s could have been using their talents to skewer National over yet another shabby chapter in the Saudi Arabia Sheepgate bribe controversy.
In case you’ve missed it, our Government has confirmed it will be buying their mates in Saudi Arabia an abattoir with our money.
The irony of NZ supplying a pop up killing floor to one of the most murderous and repressive dictatorships in the world seems to have sailed completely over the head of Minister Murray McCully. And, while liberal Muslim leaders and others are horrified, John Key remarkably managed to remain both not bothered and at the same time “deeply concerned”.
Not only has McGullyble gifted the $2.5 million dollar abattoir when good taste alone should have stopped him, the fool doesn’t even know to whom he’s bunged the bribe.
Initially, he claimed our taxpayer dollars were going to Saudi businessman Hamood Al-Ali Al-Khalaf. Bad enough in itself, obviously. But the reality is different, as Labour’s David Parker explains. In short, because Saudi Arabia is a self perpetuating oligarchy, the abattoir will actually be gifted to the Saud family, who will merely lease it to Al-Khalaf.
So, on top of sending 900 soon to be dead sheep, and $4 million in bribes, we are now kowtowing to these thugs with a state of the art killing facility. Does the cynicism and depravity of the National Government know no bounds? Is there no moral line they will not cross to get a trade deal? Will they ever learn how to negotiate other than on bended knee?
Final word to boonman, who does a fine line in cutting satire.
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Whole Saudi thing is utterly corrupt and hopefully the Auditor-General throws the book at the government shortly. The minister should be sacked.
Wouldnt that endanger progress on your beloved TPP deal?
No. Separate issues.
I wonder if Mr Hooton who seems to be able to accept that if this National govt can be corrupt in this, can also see they may indeed be able to be less than truthful where the TPP is concerned.
The TPP is about corporations, and yes, US ones in the main, shoring up their position in a world where people are growing increasingly weary of big business, of consumerism and seeing their food becoming less and less like food all the time. They see it, they seek to make sure they are able to fight the people’s desire to live more simply, with less and less involvement and control of their lives from corporations. They are well aware of the rise of the “sharing economy” and they will be very busy figuring out how they can counter that. Nothing, no TPP or anything else must hinder such a change if that is what the PEOPLE want!!!
It explains why opposition is coming from all quarters not just left or right, not just NZ. It is big v small
At the very minimum the entire National Party caucus should be in jail for these bribes that they keep handing over.
Given the facts that your company Exceltium gets paid by large corporates to spin their lines, how do we know when you are saying what you really believe and when you are simply writing their pr lines?
It’s very hard to trust your word.
Matthew has been consistently scathing of the Government’s Saudi dealing.
So this is a ‘free’ opinion with no drawstrings ?
I think it was stated at some point that he wanted the PR job for one of the players, but it went to someone else so yeah, it’s ‘free’, but also business in a sense.
Matthew Hooton wants to lay claim to a degree of intellectual authority, political acuity and personal probity.
No one who supports the Government’s dirty deals with the House of Saud can possibly lay claim to any of those things.
Ergo ….
I have little faith in the Auditor General nowdays.
Yup and matty knows at best it’ll be a whitewash in the same way Collins copped a light shower when she should never be a minister of the crown again.
Higher standards…..yeah right.
Yek heard about the Saudi Arabian methods and thought ‘What a bloody good idea’.
I totally agree that this is an outrage – how this punygovernment can pay for this killing house for the murderous regime is beyond me – I hope the shit sticks on this.
meanwhile the sheep continue to be abused for the taste of their flesh and blood – same there as here ain’t it?
What are the chances that the state of the art killing house will just be used to slaughter and render baa baa’s? slim I’d say…
Nevertheless we have traded with many regimes over the years whose politics were repressive and objectionable – Israel, Russia, China & the US spring to mind.
Saudi is not merely the world’s largest oil producer, it is presently one of the largest phosphate producers. Saudi has a shortfall of about 2.6 million sheep per annum. NZ has (or had) one of the lowest production costs for sheep in the world. They do much less environmental damage than cows.
Somewhere in all that there is strong logic for trade between the two countries. A smart solution would be either an upgraded humane live trade or a NZ operated facility in Saudi or nearby. (Somaliland would be an obvious choice).
But McCully, like most Gnats, should be in jail. Bribery is a crime.
Their self serving approach also has taken the shine off the resistance to the TPP.
The big corporates must love them.
Skeletons?
Or is it simply follow the money?
“the minister should be sacked” . He gets away with it and his government gets away with it because we, the people of this country allow them to get away with it. Aided by a complacent MSM which is owned by the right and is high jacking the information highways of this country we are pretty much stuffed.
We obviously don’t give a toss about our freedoms and are too engrossed in our electronic hand pieces soaking up dross all day that important events and losses just flow over our heads. In Newmarket the other day hardly anybody knew about the TPPA. And, we don’t care one wit about it. We need serious problems to happen out here and I mean serious problems, then people will sit up and whinge and bleat and take notice. The All Blacks and “no name” will not be able to help us then and it will be all hands to the crisis. Not beforehand. “No name” already has his future sorted out and it won’t be in this country thank Christ for that. .
So true.
So depressing.
Also us Huxley’s Brave New World.
Shows how morally bankrupt the government is, but worse the lack of public outrage shows how morally bankrupt we are as a nation. A direct consequence of Crosby-Textor approach to politics. National thriving on an apathetic public.
Meanwhile over heard in a mansion in Judges Bay?…..Yeah, nah, acshully the beheadings are not a good look, but at the end of the day the advice I’ve been given is, who cares, theres a deal in the wind. Fuck, I’d do a deal with Pablo Escabar if there was a buck in it!
+100 – absolutely disgusting!!
No wonder the Natz are increasing our international corruption rating.
Wonder what the prize for signing the TPPA is?
For Key?
For Groser?
Key would see signing the TPPA as a significant milestone in career, CV and obituary. Not signing it works have lost him the JP Morgan level directorships he hopes to gather.
Grosser? A shot at BIG international Civil Servant job and a couple of professorships. And money for Cuban boots.
@ Paul (9) If he hasn’t got it already, I’d say FJK will be handsomely rewarded with US citizenship. But I suspect he might already be a patriot of Uncle Sam. Of course he will get a knighthood and join the rest of the corrupt criminal element of the brotherhood. He’s well qualified in that regard.
As for Groser. Possibly a knighthood I’d say. He’s got the Washington post already, to enable him to do some pimping against NZ on behalf of the US! That will also improve FJK’s rating with his good ol’ boy Yankee buddies!
As per usual Te Reo, a great article. Thank you.
Just wish that Labour could get their act together long enough to go for the jugular on this issue (sorry, bad choice of words in this context).
I am not all that sure that Labour has figured out just what is going on, and its not just here, it is all around the world. Who’da thunk that someone like Bernie Sanders could quite possibly become POTUS a few short years ago? Imagine a ticket with him and Elizabeth Warren on it.
What we need is our own Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn, I think we are still to learn of his/her existence, but they are there, somewhere, and they will pop up like a Jack-in-a-box.
PS its not Winnie
It could be worse ………….. we could be selling them weapons
“Pressure is mounting on David Cameron to explain the role of British military personnel in the Saudi-led bombing campaign of Yemen after a UN panel ruled the operation contravened international humanitarian law.”
&
” “The panel documented that the coalition had conducted airstrikes targeting civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international humanitarian law, including camps for internally displaced persons and refugees; civilian gatherings, including weddings; civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian residential areas; medical facilities; schools; mosques; markets, factories and food storage warehouses; and other essential civilian infrastructure, such as the airport in Sana’a, the port in Hudaydah and domestic transit routes.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/27/labour-raises-pressure-on-cameron-to-explain-yemen-involvement
Reminds me of how the bloodhounds made money out of East Timor and their genocide http://johnpilger.com/videos/death-of-a-nation-the-timor-conspiracy
We should be doing less trade with and not chasing the blood money from places like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia etc
This Saudi stuff is so unbelievable it almost impossible to believe. It is one of those occasions where Key reminds me so much of Donald Trump, in that he knows that he can get away with such blatant disregard to sensibilities in much the same way as Trump, by his own admission, could shoot someone in the main street of somewhere and still remain as popular as ever, if not more.
There are strange things happening at the moment.
“So how unusual is it for the Saudi royal family to hand over this amount of cash in a personal donation? Not at all, said the Saudi insider, adding that Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan have all been beneficiaries of multi-$100m donations from the Saudi royal purse.
“There is nothing unusual about this donation to Malaysia,” he said. “It is very similar to how the Saudis operate in a number of countries.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35409424
just another day at the office?
What short memories people have.
Under Rogernomics some wealthy people got a lot wealthier buying up our state assets at knockdown prices. Same of the deals that when went down back then was a disgrace (the sale of the Governmenr Printing Office for one – read David Lange’s memoir) and who was in Governement – the Labour Party (as I said, just to remind you, people have short memories).